Early this morning, I found myself trapped in sleep paralysis again. It always freaks me out for a little while after I finally break free. It started off as your average dream, surreal colors, and an overall beautiful world. But then things took a dark and horrifying turn. Suddenly I was in a car; it was the dead of night. I could barely see 2 feet in front of my face, but luckily the road was straight for the most part. I drove past an old building; it looked really rundown, like it was literally rotting. Then I heard voices coming from the building. It was weird because I wasn’t really close enough to the building where if there were people inside, I could hear them talking. This didn’t sound like people talking anyways; it sounded more like a bunch of overlapping phone calls all going on at the same time. But the voice was just this one guy. From what little I could hear, it was just this guy saying, “Hey, you finally made it, good job,” and stuff similar to that over and over until I passed the building completely. As I got past the building, I heard the guy’s voice coming from the woods. Again, it sounded like a phone call, but this time it was just one, and I could hear it so clearly. “Hey, I’m surprised you really made it. I don’t exactly know what happened, but I was wondering if you could save me. Probably not, I don’t even know where I am, but I was hoping you could try.
I tried to wake from this dream turned nightmare, and that was when I realized I was trapped. Usually I can force myself awake from any dream, but not this time. It was like I was trapped in my own body. When that realization struck, panic went through my whole body as I tried my best to move anything at all, hoping it might jolt me fully awake. I even tried screaming, but that didn’t work either. It was like my brain’s access to the rest of my body was restricted; I could only move my eyes, and even that was a struggle. It’s like an invisible weight pinned me to the bed.
As I calmed down a bit, that’s when I heard a sound echo through the room, a slightly distorted voice coming from behind me. It just repeated the same haunting word over and over: “Hey.” At first, it sounded like the guy from the phone, but then it started to get more mechanical, but it sounded broken. The voice slowly came closer, creeping towards me from what I can only assume was from behind the door.
Once again, fear struck me throughout my entire immovable body. I used every ounce of strength left in me to force my eyes open and look behind me as much as possible, and there it was. In the dimly lit room behind me was the creature that haunted me since my childhood. A dark shadow figure covered head to toe in rusty chains, the way he appeared to me the first time I saw him.
My heart pounded against my chest as I felt the cold that follows him everywhere sending a chill down my spine. Unable to handle the fear any longer, I closed my eyes tight, praying to whatever may be out there that this nightmare would end.
As I opened my eyes, it felt as though the weight had been lifted, and I finally had his permission to move again. One single word. One word was the only thing I could think, Toby. The ominous presence that’s haunted me since I was little, that’s the only thing this could be. Whatever he was, I knew something worse was coming because if Toby was reverting back to what he was when I was younger, I know the other one is too, and that’s what I’m most terrified of. I don’t know why Toby did this, why he’s trying to scare me again, maybe it was a threat, or perhaps just a reminder of what he could really do. All I know is that I still haven’t fully turned around yet, I’m still too scared. Usually he disappears after paralyzing me like that, but if he’s still there, what am I supposed to do then.